It is always a pleasure to welcome any solid contribution to local history.   When the story of a parish is told by a competent writer who is not afraid of the labour which diligent research entails, it is usually most entertaining reading.   It embodies much of the romantic incident of fiction in the lives of its celebrities, with the interest and instruction of sober fact.   Hence it is that we are glad to see these Parish Memorials of Norton Disney, a quaint old world village near Newark, on the Lincolnshire border.   The author has much to tell us that it is most interesting to know, and every page of his book indicates his capacity for his self-imposed task and the loving care with which he has executed it.   It is a long time since we read a more thoughtful and intelligent little book.   Commencing with a brief description of the parish, the writer thus pleasantly introduces it to notice:-
"Norton, otherwise Norton Disney, is a small, obscure parish in the vale of the Witham, distance eleven miles S.W. by S. from Lincoln, on the border of the county in which it is situated, and contains, according to the Tithe Commissioners 2,305 acres in all.   One end runs up to the river Witham, the other to the Roman Foss and the 'Shire Dyke,' which separate it from the Newark Hundred in Nottinghamshire.   Between the Trent and the Witham there is a long narrow strip of land known in the several townships through which it passes as the 'moor,' for the most part now enclosed and cultivated.   This moory barren tract, which during the Heptarchy formed the border between Mercia and Northumbria, takes a clean sweep through this Lordship imparting to its soil more or less the character of land so situated.   The soil differs, however, considerably; in some parts the gravel crops up to within a few inches of the surface; in others, especially at its lower or eastern end, it changes to a strong loam, which, in the course of ages, has been swept down and deposited in its present site by the constant flow and scour of the river Witham.   At its lower end, slightly raised above the flood line of the Witham, lies the village proper, a cluster of thatched cottages, overlooked by the manor house and the village church.   Here also stood the maison forte, or moated mansion of the Disney's, the feudal lords of the domain.   Eight centuries ago the adjacent river flowed up the little brook, which divides Norton from Stapleford, forming a long, narrow sheet of water, which supplied the moat and protected their castle from any hostile attack. At that time half the lordship was probably wood, shrub, and open moor, the latter being admirably adapted for the diversion of hawking, or the purposes of the chase, of which, of every kind and description, the Normans were passionately fond.   The fields and enclosures adjoining the manor house retain to this day the name of the "parks," and from Overseers' accounts - a few extracts from which we hope to give at a later page - the badger, fox, and otter abounded down to the middle or close of the last century.   But excepting the fox, which occasionally pays us a midnight visit, these *****xora, or small animals of prey, are now extinct.
"An old man named Cont, whose death is entered in our parish register under the year 1839, aged 92, remembered as a lad going from Norton to the Newark races then held on Langford moor, when, according to his account, there was neither gate nor fence intervening between Norton and the Sleaford road.   Though now enclosed, a few acres lie still uncleared, growing nothing but ling and gorse, the natural product of a moory soil when left to itself, and various kinds of course sour grasses, their botanical names being unknown to the writer.   The same remark applies to the parish of Stapleford, on portions of which it may be safely said no plough-share has ever driven a furrow.   Waste land of this description is perhaps an eyesore to political faddists, but they who love to roam unfettered by care, amidst pink flowering broom, will here find a few spots congenial to their choice, and rejoice in the solitude and stillness around.
"But though this lordship cannot compete with some others in depth and richness of soil, it is pleasantly diversified by wood, hill, and dale.   The ground rising by a gradual ascent from the river, affords charming views of the 'Cliff Row' and the Witham valley.   At its upper or western end the eye takes in from various standpoints a wide sweep of country, reaching miles across the Trent into Nottinghamshire, while from the brow of the hill over-looking Stapleford woods are to be seen in the far distance the historical residence of the Duke of Rutland, the tapering spire of Newark Church, with others of more humble pretensions in the vale below.   The high ground from whence we get these panoramic views is locally known as the 'Brills,' an abbreviation of Brough Hills, at the foot of which, within a short mile, once stood a Roman town or station named by the Saxons 'Burgh', or 'Brough,' a term applied indiscriminately by them to any strong-hold or fortified place.   Stukeley, the antiquary, who is a native of Lincolnshire, says it remained entire down to the reign of Edmund Ironside, when it was sacked by the Danes, and the materials carried away for building purposes.
"Be this as it may, this locality was known to the Romans, as the above station and their military road, the Foss, clearly show, though the site of the present village at the time was probably all forest.   Between their departure and the Norman invasion six centuries elapsed, and the only foot print or tell-tale impression of that period is a small entrenched camp or enclosure, which we take to be the fons et origo of Norton.   It lies between the church and the river, in a field called the 'hill close,' and as a place of refuge and defence not inaptly chosen.   There at all events it stands a silent witness of a prehistoric age.   The escarpment is thrown down, but of sufficient height still to give name to the field where it is situated.   It is only here and there that these small but ancient enclosures are found.   Time and the plough- share have levelled most of them.   To their construction the origin of many towns and village is traceable, and that this village or township owes its name and genesis to a similar source is by no means improbable."
The Vicar, in the next chapter, quotes the entry from the Doomsday Book and having now reached the solid ground of written history, indulges in a disquisition on the Doomsday entry, discusses the apparent cheapness of land in feudal rimes, and shows the difference between the lot of the labourer and that of the Saxon serf.   It must not be supposed, however, that this dissertation, extending as it does to more general topics, is a lengthy or dreary one.   On the contrary, it is a concise and intelligent account of the great Norman survey and of the condition of our villages in feudal times when William de Iseny claimed the right, like other lords of the soil, of inflicting capital punishment within the confines of his domain.   The third chapter deals with the feudal owners of Norton, the one mentioned in Doomsday being no less a personage than Judith, a niece of the Conqueror, to whom it had been assigned, along with other convenient slices of English territory.   Judith married Waltheof, Saxon Earl of Huntingdon and with their descendants as tenants in chief until the extinction of the barony in 1237. But there had meanwhile come upon the scene as under-tenants, a Norman family, taking their name "de Isigne," from a small township, near Bayeux.   The first of them to settle in the parish was (says the Vicar) most likely one of those penniless soldiers of fortune who helped to swell the motley host of the Norman invader.   The fact of his bearing a territorial surname may be taken as an indication that he was of ancient linage, and once rooted on the congenial soil of England, for "to the victors went the spoils," his family flourished like a green bay tree.   Receiving the honour of Knighthood, The Disney's inter-married with powerful and lordy families, served as knights of the shire, and became people of opulence and distinction in these parts.   As may be supposed, the author devotes considerable space to an account of this ancient family, to whom are many monuments in Norton Church, and who have left behind an indubitable mark of their importance in the association of their name with that of this ancient parish.   One of them was with Lord Bardolph, in this county, at the battle of Towton Field, and lost his life on that sad and memorable occasion.   Among the memorials in the church is s brass in memory of William Disney, Sheriff of Lincolnshire, in 1532, the inscription stating that he "and Richard Disney, his sonne, were trewe and faithful to their Prince and countre," though in what way they signalised their loyalty and patriotism is not recorded.   The Vicar thinks it refers to their action during the Lincolnshire rebellion of 1536; and the fact that the family were enriched in the great scramble for Church lands which took place shortly afterwards gives credence to the theory.   Richard Disney had two wives.   The first, Nele, was co-heir of Sir William Hussey, of Beauvale Priory, whose father, Lord Hussey, was one of the leaders of the Lincolnshire rebellion.   (By-the By, Beauvale should scarcely be described as Beauvale, Southwell, seeing that it is far away from the Cathedral city, and on the Derbyshire border).   The second wife was Jane, youngest sister of Anne Ayscough, the Lincolnshire martyr, of whom Foxe gives a detailed account in his well known book.   Daniel Disney, who lived during the days of the Marian persecutions, married a daughter of Sir Edward Molineux, of Hawton, and was succeeded by his son Henry, who was knighted by James I, and whose wife made such a sensation by her dress when that monarch was at Newark that he is reported to have asked in broad Scotch "Who be that laddie with a lordship on her back?"   Sir Henry settled Norton on his only son by his first wife, a parish ****************** to Norton Disney.  By a country ****************, William Disney, and advowson and manor of Swinderby on the issue of his second marriage.   Of William, the Vicar says -
"We hoped to have gleaned some trait of character or biographical particular in connection with the great Civil War.   Unfortunately we are unable to connect his name with any great movements and party struggles going on at that time.   "We are not quite sure that we can help the author in this matter, but we would venture to draw his attention to entries in the "State Papers," which speak of a Captain William Disney, a partisan of the Earl of Manchester, A.D. 1644-5, and who was in charge of the garrison at Wallingford.   The same gentleman re-appears o few years later as "Lieut. Colonel W. Disney." Who was on the Cromwellian side, and helped to raise troops for Ireland in 1650, in which military service he seems to have been wounded.   Of William Disney the author says:--
"He has the credits of having built the present manor house, if tradition, and a small stone tablet let into the north gable end, with the following date and initials, can be relied on:-

Whether a medieval structure or old moated castle supplied the materials, is now of little moment.   Not a vestige remains of either.   Excepting a few mutilated stone effigies in the weather-beaten little church close by, and the protuberant lines marking the site of their ancient castle, not a memento is left above ground to recall the pomp, pride, and power of the former owners.   Indeed, for some years before the Civil War broke out, the main line, through litigation, second marriages, and other cases, had become greatly reduced.   They were no longer magnates, but fast losing rank and county influence.   The subject of this scant notice left, by Bridget, the daughter of Edmund Molineux, Esq., of Thorpe, near Newark, both sons and daughters.  The latter were suitably married. . . . . William Disney, who's male line became extinct in 1722 as above - died towards the close of the Commonwealth, in the year of our Redemption 1665, aged 67.     We now revert to his eldest son, Molineux Disney, the last of his name who succeeded to this entailed estate.   He married June 24, 1633, the youngest daughter and co-heir of Sir Robt. Mounson of Carlton, Near Lincoln, and by her had the unlucky number of thirteen children - six sons and seven daughters.   Of the six sons one only reached the age of manhood, and he by a sad fate was condemned to die a felon's death by the hands of the common hangman. Although unable to show what part his father took in the great Civil Strife which brought ruin on so many families, and caused so much blood shed throughout the kingdom, we can prove beyond doubt that in the great struggle for supremacy between Charles and his Parliament, his eldest son, Molineux, made common cause with those who sought to check the arbitrary exactions of the King.   He may not have been a very active partisan; still his services were undoubtedly at the disposal of those who took up arms against their sovereign. . . . .   It is well known the Civil war was the cause of many lordships changing hands.   Country gentlemen became impoverished, estates neglected, some for want of owners, others through forced sales, and the disputes of doubtful elements:  from these and similar causes arose the belief around here that Norton was lost or confiscated during the confusion of those unhappy times.   A touch of the marvellous was only wanting to give colour to the report, which was that 'Richard Disney's sons were cut out of the memorial brass to prevent all trace of descent and claim to the estate.'   Either local ingenuity invents, or there is sometimes a substratum of truth underlying reports of this kind, but in this instance the story is wholly devoid of foundation, and could only have found credit long after the family had parted with the estate.   Gough, in his edition of Brittania Vol. II, p. 244, states that ' Norton was sold by Molineux Disney to Christopher Monk, duke of Albemarle, in 1674,' which would be in the year following the one in which he received his commission of Captaincy - after continuing, with one brief exception, in the same family name for nigh 600 years.
"It is no part of our task to enter into the circumstances or motive which induced the owner to part with the ancient patrimony of his family.   Norton having changed hands, our narrative of the Disney's properly terminates, and will very shortly be diverted into another channel.   Still, we cannot forbear detaining the reader a brief while, in order to relate the untimely end of the last owner's only surviving son, to whose premature death allusion has already been made, viz.:-
"William Disney, Esq.,  who, having attached himself to the Duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles the Second, and becoming one of his partisans, shared the unhappy fate of all those who in any way promoted or abetted that ill-advised rebellion.   How he became involved, and at whose instigation, whether he was a pliant tool in the hands of others, or the motive he had in furthering the Duke's cause, cannot now be ascertained.   Evidently he promoted Monmouth's interests more by his pen than his sword.   For the principal indictment against him was his having circulated certain libellous pamphlets, of which, on his own showing, he was the author, and in which he expressed himself in words favourable to Monmouth, as more likely to uphold the Protestant religion than James; and also his avowed belief that the Duke's mother, Lucy Walters, had--although clandestinely, yet legally--been married to Charles the Second, an allegation which, could it have been proved, would have made Monmouth the legitimate heir to the throne, and James the Second an usurper.   Unable at his trial to substantiate these grave charges, sentence of death was passed upon him, which was carried out on Kenington Common, Surrey, June 29, 1685, his head being affixed to a spike over the city gates, in accordance with the barbarous custom of those times.   Of his father, 'Col. Disney,' little remains to be told.   For some time he had been busily engaged in prosecuting his claim to the Barony of Hussey when the above calamitous event apparently stayed all further proceedings.   He himself survived his unfortunate son a few years only, as shown by the entry of his death, which runs thus in our parish register--'Molineux Disney, Esq., buried Apr. ye 30 th. 1694,' and with this obituary, the last of a long line of owners, we close our narrative of the Disney's of Norton." 
As a set-off to the disloyalty of William Disney, who was reported in December, 1660, to be "deep in guilt," we may mention that other members of the family, presumably of the Swinderby Branch, rendered active service in behalf of Charles II.   In 1662 an order was issued to pay: to John Disney £500 on account for the King's secret service; and Thomas Disney, against whom an 1648 the Royalists issued a warrant, became so mightily enthusiastic as to write denouncing a primer written by a tailor, of which 1,500 copies were printed, asking that it might be suppressed before it was dispersed to the poisoning of the people, as it contained much schismatic and heretical matter.
Leaving the Disney's, of whom the author has industriously collected so much valuable information, we have a most entertaining chapter on their successor at Norton, the second Duke of Albemarle, who purchased the estate, and whose chequered career might form the subject of a romantic novel.   On his death, Sir Walter Clarges succeeded to the Norton property as devisee under the Duke's will, and from the Clarges it descended to the Jarvis family, Viscount St. Vincent's in right of their descent from Mary Clarges, the only daughter of the second baronet.   The fourth Viscount St. Vincent was a brave and distinguished solider, who unfortunately received his death wound at Abu Klea in the Soudan.   His Lordship was succeeded by his brother in 1885, the first owner to establish a residential connection since the Disney's sold the lordship in 1674.
Having dealt so admirably with the parish and its owners, the Vicar gives an excellent description of the church--a thirteenth century structure with later additions, and full of interesting memorials, all of which are accurately and carefully described.   It is curious to know that:-
"The old Vicarage, or Manse, formed a fitting subject for the pencil of Dr. Syntax, when on his memorable tour in search of the picturesque.   It was composed chiefly of rubble, with upright oak posts let into the ground on a level with the outer walls, and covered in with thatch a yard thick.   At one end, similarly constructed, was a long barn in which tithes, when paid in kind, were wont to be stowed.   Being ill-suited to the conveniency of modern times, the whole was pulled down by the compiler of these notes in 1852, and more suitable offices raised on the site."
As the gist of a lady's letter is said to be in the postscript, so a large part of the author's best matter is in his appendix.   We are not sure that he has not done right to put it there, since its introduction in the body of the book might have interfered with the smooth flow of the narrative.   At the same time, the appendices are unusually lengthy; and indicate the pains which the author has taken to collect information.   Space does not permit us to indicate or comment upon them.   We have already said sufficient to show that the Vicar of Norton Disney has succeeded in finding material for a delightful little book.   It will always be of deepest interest to villagers, and to those who are familiar with the locality, while it deserves even wider patronage as the story of an ancient parish, associated with eminent families from the earliest times.   We congratulate the Vicar most heartily on his "Parish Memorials," the perusal of which has afforded us much pleasure.   The volume has been well printed in bold type by Mr. Whiles, and is illustrated with photographs by Mr. Bliss.